Saturday, March 17, 2012

Gunslinger Stratos beta events featuring Daigo Umehara announced

The game is set for this Summer, and the events look to be both location tests and big marketing campaign. You will be able to try the game at 3 different locations in Tokyo and Osaka between April 4-22. Players who fill in the questionnaire will also receive limited original goods such as T-shirt, keychain, and data card sticker. On top of that, your statistics in the game will be carried over to the finished product. There will also be tournaments on Sunday in which winning teams will have their name added to the staff credits.

And for the most important part, Daigo Umehara and his team "Team Umehara" will play the game at the events every Friday. The teammates are Tokido, Fuudo, Mago, "and more."

Umehara will also participate in the "welcome events" with the game's voice actors (Atsushi Abe (Kamijo from To Aru Majutsu no Index), Hisako Kanemoto (Ikamusume), Kana Ueda (Rin from Fate series)) on April 4 and 11 in Tokyo and Osaka respectively.

Umehara playing a 4 on 4 light-gun shooter could be considered a game changer for the industry. He is hailed as the world's most famous Street Fighter player, yet Capcom never made him a presenter of their games. Square Enix saw the opportunity and approached him last year. In the future, if Square Enix gets serious about fighting games, they could put him on an exclusive deal that prevents him from playing fighting games from other game companies.

Umehara usually plays at Taito Station. The big arcade game center chain, with more than 100 branches around the country, is also owned by Square Enix.